Hello all,
Just wanted to let you know that the USEF’s Josh Taylor has heard a lot of the discussion going on about thoughts people have on membership. He’s conducting a live chat on the USEF’s Facebook page on Wednesday, Feb. 18 from 12 to 1 p.m. EST.
Funny, so the USEF, who makes its money almost exclusively on the backs on working amateurs, schedules a forum to hear the concerns on those amateurs during business hours, when, by definition, those very members are most likely to be unable to participate due to the job constraints that enable them to continue paying the fairly useless USEF membership fees.
Irony, anyone?
This! ^^^^^
I’ll bring the popcorn!
The timing is a little unfortunate seeing as like Kingoftheroad said, most working amateurs, cannot participate. While probably not intentional, its irksome for those who do want to participate.
Yes and if you read his response it was basically to tell all of us that the USEF membership is 1) a bargain, and 2), offers a lot of benefits , this after he read all the responses. Apparently he didn’t quite comprehend the responses. And so for 1 hour in the middle of the afternoon HE the “Chief Commercial Officer at the U.S. Equestrian Federation.whose job it is to further the mission of USEF in promoting and enhancing quality in equestrian sport, and provide the best service for our members”. will take questions from the membership for one hour on Facebook… Yep, he sure is heading in the right direction. Apparently he also didn’t get the message that many COTH members have dropped there USEF Membership so they aren’t invited to this party. I was under the impression that the USEF was trying to increase their membership not just maintain it. I guess I read that wrong …
If they want to hear from us why don’t they just read the threads on here?
Yes MROADES , he said he did … but apparently he didn’t understand it . Yes the USEF memebrship is only $55.00 but the USHJA memebrship is $70.00 and then there are the other recording fees and the built in fees that each show charges through entries and other things to make up for what they must pay … I would suggest Mr Taylor start by looking at the real cost of being a memebr and participating in member shows. If you ad in the insurance ( which granted is a good buy ) the membrship is actually $80.00
oh my…
Oh boy. I can see the #USEFMembers tag going in a direction that the USEF does not want…
I am not huge USEF booster… but isn’t that LUNCHTIME for people in EST zone and therefore a time when even people who work might possible be available? No matter what time he picked, it was going to be a problem for some folks. That’s a time that’s early enough to not be NUTS on the West Coast and lunchtime for East Coasters who I suspect make up a majority of USEF/USHJA members. It’s possible that time was seen (rightly or wrongly) as being a GOOD one for a lot of people.
I also will be at work during the hours of the live chat.
I’m a sport horse breeder/adult amateur and compete in 10-15 rated shows per year in the hunters and jumpers on multiple horses. I do not feel the USEF is doing a good job of representing my interests, or of promoting the advancement of our sport.
From my perspective, here is what I want to see:
Horses need to be microchipped so that horses cannot be renamed and shown in divisions for which they are not eligible. This would promote fair sport and also promote horse ownership by protecting owners from being sold horses with fraudulent identities.
Green divisions need to be restricted to truly green horses with papers and a microchip to prove age and competition history.
Amateur rules need to be enforced.
Hunter judging needs to change. As long as hunter judging rewards horses that appear drugged, unethical competitors will experiment with untestable sedatives. It is NATURAL for an athletic horse that enjoys its job to show expression and keenness when jumping a course of fences.
I want to see more educational programs towards adult amateurs of all levels. I also want to see more educational programs and materials directed towards newcomers to our sport and parents of children entering our sport.
I want to see more prize money available at lower levels, money within reach of the average well-prepared competitor.
I want to see more educational opportunities accessible to a much broader base of the young riders in our sport, not just a tiny program for a few of the elite.
Why don’t people who are unable to join the Facebook conversation tomorrow post their questions here and maybe someone on COTH who IS able to sit in on it can post them to Mr. Taylor on your behalf? And then reply back with his response?
[QUOTE=BeeHoney;8015221]
I want to see more educational opportunities accessible to a much broader base of the young riders in our sport, not just a tiny program for a few of the elite.[/QUOTE]
As a member of a proposed USHJA committee that will hopefully be approved this spring, I will tell you that there is a group of us working on that!
[QUOTE=vxf111;8015165]
I am not huge USEF booster… but isn’t that LUNCHTIME for people in EST zone and therefore a time when even people who work might possible be available? No matter what time he picked, it was going to be a problem for some folks. That’s a time that’s early enough to not be NUTS on the West Coast and lunchtime for East Coasters who I suspect make up a majority of USEF/USHJA members. It’s possible that time was seen (rightly or wrongly) as being a GOOD one for a lot of people.[/QUOTE]
Completely agree. If they scheduled it for 6pm, people would complain that it was dinner time or they are busy helping their kids with homework. Lunchtime seems fair.
You can send feedback USEF anytime. It doesn’t have to be during the FB chat.
[QUOTE=BeeHoney;8015221]
I also will be at work during the hours of the live chat.
I’m a sport horse breeder/adult amateur and compete in 10-15 rated shows per year in the hunters and jumpers on multiple horses. I do not feel the USEF is doing a good job of representing my interests, or of promoting the advancement of our sport.
From my perspective, here is what I want to see:
Horses need to be microchipped so that horses cannot be renamed and shown in divisions for which they are not eligible. This would promote fair sport and also promote horse ownership by protecting owners from being sold horses with fraudulent identities.
Green divisions need to be restricted to truly green horses with papers and a microchip to prove age and competition history.
Amateur rules need to be enforced.
Hunter judging needs to change. As long as hunter judging rewards horses that appear drugged, unethical competitors will experiment with untestable sedatives. It is NATURAL for an athletic horse that enjoys its job to show expression and keenness when jumping a course of fences.
I want to see more educational programs towards adult amateurs of all levels. I also want to see more educational programs and materials directed towards newcomers to our sport and parents of children entering our sport.
I want to see more prize money available at lower levels, money within reach of the average well-prepared competitor.
I want to see more educational opportunities accessible to a much broader base of the young riders in our sport, not just a tiny program for a few of the elite.[/QUOTE]
Each of your asks comes with a significant cost. How do you propose to fund these initiatives?
I would like to see the adult amateur and a/o divisions actually held on the weekend, as opposed to during the week. I know the kids get top priority, at least in my area, but it would be nice to horse show without burning all my vacation time.
When usef stops only caring about the overly rich and those “poor” and good enough to be afforded outstanding opportunities, then maybe some of its average members will care. The plain fact is that most of us can’t afford to show at 12++ shows a year, and the majority of those that can’t also aren’t lucky enough to have a good doctor throwing us multiple catch rides per week.
I don’t know what is wrong with me. I seem to get excellent service from USEF. Maybe I am a frequent flyer, calling/mailing in paperwork once a week? I emailed them re: Traverse City and they called me to say it wasn’t ready to be announced one day and then called the next to update me. That is lunchtime, and I bet they did it on facebook so that people can use their phones instead of work computers.
I second microchipping, amateur divisions on the weekend, and amateur educational programs 
Alrighty then…first people complain no one listens to them. Now they complain that the timing isn’t doable when someone from USEF is available for an hour to take questions.
The timing would never work for everyone. At least its a start.
My suggestion is they could allow for people to submit questions prior to the call and then they should follow up with posting all questions and answers afterward on the USEF website so people can catch up.
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